


The Adventures of Travis and Connor Stoll

by JadesDevil



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Side Quests, Side Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:46:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26441422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadesDevil/pseuds/JadesDevil
Summary: Giving them the limelight because they deserve it.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

Travis wants to take a nap. 

His eyes are burning and he’s pretty sure that his legs are going to give out on him any second now. The right side of his t shirt is drenched in his younger brother’s blood, it feels uncomfortably warm against his skin. 

He would give anything to be back in his own room - in a set of clothes that aren’t bloody, taking a nap before his mom calls him down for dinner. 

But instead, he’s spending the day before his tenth birthday trying to find a strawberry field, his have conscious brother on his back. 

So much for a birthday gift, Travis thinks. 

He remembers his mom telling him about a strawberry field, maybe even a camp, but that was seconds before she pushed them both out of the house, thrusting a backpack and a funny looking spear at her elder son and locking the house. She said something along the lines of ‘they’ll catch you if you’re seen here’ and that was it. 

He felt like he was the main character in a video game. Except apparently this was a video game from hell, and there was no way he was going to win. He was too young for this, Travis thought as he perched Connor up against a tree. Yeah, he’d always stick up for his younger brother at school, but this? This was something on a whole new level. 

He barely even knew what he was up against, and the monsters they’d seen in the past week were definitely stronger than bullies at school. He and Connor had just escaped from this big ugly looking one, but not before it managed to claw at his younger brothers shoulder, slowing them down even more. 

Travis knew Connor was just as scared, probably even more that Travis was. Heck, who wouldn’t be scared after their mother tells them that your house isn’t safe anymore and you have to run across the country and find a strawberry field all while trying not to die at the hands at creatures who probably shouldn’t exist. 

For a nine year old, Connor was actually handling this quite well. 

Travis was sure he’d be mad too, only if he wasn’t so confused. He had so many questions - but he wasn’t going to get a solid answer anytime soon from the looks of it. Right now though, all he knew that it was getting dark and he had to do something about Connor’s shoulder. 

He took out some bandages from what was left of their poorly put together first aid kit and started to slowly wrap his shoulder up gently, trying his best not to touch the wound and make him cry out. 

Attention was the last thing they needed right now. 

Connor was pretty co operative, he bit his lip and tried his best not to scream. When he was done with Connor, he decided to look at his own injury, a bite mark that he had gotten a few days ago. It was an ugly yellow right now and Travis was pretty sure that it wasn’t supposed to be like that but there really wasn’t much he could do about it.   
“I’m hungry.” Connor coughed out, searching through their backpack with his good arm. He shook out a broken hairbrush, half a bottle of water a crushed convenience store brownie. They both frowned at their stash, wanting to save it for if they really needed it later but simultaneously wanting to eat enough to make them stretch out tomorrow. 

Connor sighed, leaning against the tree. “I was going to save this for later.” He smiled, a familiar glint in his eye - if it weren't for how tired Connor looked, Travis probably would’ve thought he had found a way to get to the strawberry field. Instead, his younger brother pulled out a twix bar and a bottle of chocolate milk from sweatshirt pocket. 

Travis didn't know whether he was more surprised that Connor managed to steal food or whether he was more surprised that he hadn’t noticed. 

“When you were trying to fight that…that thing.” Connor explained. “At the gas station store.” He broke the chocolate in four and put two of the pieces back in the wrap. “You told me to run, but I got these too.” 

“Stealing already?” Travis teased, but he gratefully took his part of the chocolate bar and nibbled on it slowly, trying to memorise the flavour. Connor on the other hand - he practically breathed it all in. 

The two sat like that for a little while, telling jokes and trying to lighten the mood. They knew it wasn’t working, but it was nice to pretend. It was nice to pretend that they were in their backyard, playing with sticks instead of fighting monsters. It was nice to pretend that they were annoying their mom instead of running for their lives. 

So when they both went to sleep, hoping that the tree was sufficient shelter for the night, Travis tried his best to pretend that he couldn’t hear Connor’s muffled sobs from beside him. 

———

Surprisingly enough, he was woken up by Connor shaking his leg, far too early for his liking if he were being honest. He groaned and turned around, the pebbles under him digging into his back painfully. 

“Hey!” He heard a deep voice. Definitely not Connor. “Hey wake up!” 

That was enough to make Travis shoot up, even half asleep he grabbed the spear and stood ready to attack, furiously blinking his eyes to adjust to the dark. 

To his surprise, there was no monster in front of him. It was a teenage boy, maybe a few years older him. He had sandy blond hair and his eyes were wide in surprise. Judging from the towel on his shoulder and his tank top, he looked like some sort of surfer. 

If only it weren’t for the sword he was holding. 

It was the same funny material as his spear, gleaming in the moonlight that was seeping through the branches. It looked heavy, but the boy didn’t look like it weighed him down at all. 

he smiled, noticing Travis’s unease and lowering the sword. “I’m Luke.” He held out his hand, not looking surprised when when travis eyed it nervously, just waiting for flames to shoot out of his fingers or something. 

“I know you don’t know me.” he crouched down to where Connor was sleeping, his eyes trained on his shoulder. “But I was out for a swim and you guys seemed like you need some help. There’s a camp nearby…a ten minute walk.”   
He looked like he was choosing his words out carefully, but there was something about Luke that made Connor trust him. Maybe it was because of the material of his sword. Maybe it was the way he looked at Connor with genuine worry in his eyes. Maybe it was because his mom mentioned a camp to him as well. 

“We should get going fast.” Luke muttered, his friendly demeanour changing to a much more authoritative one as he picked Connor up carefully. “The poison’s spreading fast.” 

He was probably telling the truth, Connor hadn’t stirred and even in the moonlight, he looked much paler than he should be. 

Grabbing the bag, he stumbled through the dark to keep up with Luke. “Uhm…uh…” He tried to ask. “I have a question.” 

In reality, he had millions of questions but he didn’t even know if Luke had the answers to them all. 

Luke nodded, eyes ahead of him, careful not to trip over things as they closer to their destination. Travis could hear sounds of laughter and yells, they were getting close to Luke’s camp. 

“I can imagine.” Luke said finally. “But first we get both fixed up and settled in, then Chiron can answer them.” 

Just great, Travis thought. Now he had three more questions.


	2. Chapter 2

Connor couldn’t sleep. 

He tried to make himself as comfortable as he could, but there was only so much he could do with an old sleeping bag. The material on the bottom was wearing off and the cold wooden floor dug into his back. 

He remembered just a week ago, he had his own room. His own bed. His own gaming console. 

Now all he had was a bit of space allowed on the ground of a cabin so obviously overflowing with people. There were empty cabins close to them, so why did they have to cram everyone up in this one? His sleeping bag was squashed in between’s Luke’s bottom bunk and a slightly larger sleeping bag for his older brother. 

Travis had fallen asleep so soundly, why couldn’t he? 

How had Travis accepted their new life so easily? He managed to fit in right with his ‘new’ siblings considered he got claimed by his father less than a day after he came to camp. Connor on the other hand - he was still staying at the Hermes cabin as ‘unclaimed’. 

He wanted to go home. He wanted his mom to help him with his homework again. He wanted to play ‘zombies’ with his friends after school ended. He wanted to go to the convenience store at the end of the block and listen to the friendly old shopkeeper tell stories until Travis came to pick him up from school. Hell, he would even trade going to the class bullies birthday party if it meant he could leave here. 

So he did what any nine year old in his right mind would. 

He decided he was going to run away. 

Then and there. 

By the time he folded his sleeping bag and wore his hoodie, the sun was just barely rising, he could get out before anyone would wake up. When he was outside camp, he would call his mom and she’d come to pick him up, just like she did last month when he got the stomach bug in school. 

The camp looked different so early in the morning, none of the older kids were sword fighting, and the terrible noises that used to come from the forge were gone. He was Sunday, and according to the horse who was in charge, on Sunday’s everyone could sleep in a bit, Connor doubted anyone would be up. 

He yawned, rubbing the back of his hand on his eyes to keep him awake. He decided instead of walking up the hill, he’d take the other route out of camp - the one by the beach. He hummed to himself as he walked across the strawberry fields. He thought he saw someone else - but who would be awake so early in the morning? It was probably a shadow from one of the scarecrows anyways. 

He wondered if he and Travis had the same dad. They did look the same - but Luke said that it was possible that they had different fathers, considering that they weren’t claimed at the same time. Gods were weird, Connor thought as he tugged at the weeds near his feet. If they were as strong as the horseman claimed them to be, why didn’t they fight the monsters themselves? Why did they make his older brother do it? And why were there so many unclaimed children at camp? It’s not like they were busy fighting monsters and didn’t have time to claim their own kids. 

The weeds were getting troublesome, Connor thought as he crossed the strawberry fields. If he were incharge of this place, he would definitely give the strawberry fields some more attention. 

In a few minutes, he found himself at the beach, the colours of the sun were reflecting onto the water, and if Connor didn’t have an important agenda in mind, he would definitely sit on the sand for a while and watch the sun rise. 

He could still do that, couldn’t he? 

No one knew where he was, so what was the harm of taking a little break. 

He took off his shoes and sat on the sand, wriggling his feet and letting the sand slide in between his toes. It was so peaceful and warm out here, and the soft rocks of the morning waves seemed like they were drawing him in. Connor yawned and laid on his back. The forest was behind him, creating a boundary between him and the camp. 

He felt safe here, he felt sleepy. Maybe it was because he could move his legs without the fear of hitting a cabin mate, or maybe it was just because he hadn’t been sleeping well in the camps before this, but in the span of minutes, Connor was asleep. 

He didn’t know when he woke up, nor did he remember what he dreamed off. But all he was sure of was that there were voices around him, and the sun was too bright on his face for him to sleep comfortably. 

He opened his eyes, groaning and turning around so that he wouldn’t be in direct contact with the light, but that only ended with him coughing out a mouthful of sand. 

“Connor?” 

The voice came from his right. 

Travis. 

“You alright bud?” 

He didn’t answer straight away, Connor was too busy trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Travis and Luke sitting on the sand beside them, a girl was behind them both, about Travis’s age. Brown hair and worried eyes. Connor thinks he’s seen her around before. 

“What…” Connor mumbled, stifling a yawn. “How’d you find me?” 

Luke grinned and looked at the girl. “Katie here was working with the plants when you passed by, luckily she told us where you were going.” He explained, Connor couldn’t help but frown at the girl. 

“Next time you want to go for a morning walk, at least let someone know, yeah?” Travis asked, his lips in a thin smile. He probably knew that Connor didn’t just come out here for a walk, but he wasn’t going to say it. Travis was funny like that, Connor thought. He was bad at words but he always tried to make him feel better. 

Connor nodded, yawning again. 

Luke started talking about how important camp protocol was, and how someone - especially as young as him, shouldn’t be wandering too far without any extra supervision.

He still didn’t want to be here. He had no friends and he missed his mom. But as Luke continued telling them stories of how heroes left and never came back, Connor realised that he probably wouldn’t make it out of here alive. And what was the point of leaving camp if he wasn’t going to make it to his mom alive? 

As Luke started explaining how after summer, they could go back home, Connor felt his shoulders ease up. The look on Travis’s face was more relaxed too. Katie told them about every time she went back home, her dad would take her to the flower festival in their town. 

When Luke could finally see that Connor felt more at ease - he stood up, Travis following quickly. “let’s get you three back to camp, yeah?” He said. “It’s almost time for lunch and we skipped breakfast.” 

Travis muttered an agreement, and Connor realised that he was actually pretty hungry. Travis slung his arm around Connor’s shoulder, and Katie picked up his sleeping bag, they all followed Luke back to camp.   
Connor laughed when Travis started to tell everyone about a prank they pulled on their grandma last year. 

He realised that this was probably the safest place he’d ever know. 

And he didn’t know if that thought brought him comfort or made him sick to the core.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I tried making this one more lighthearted, hope you enjoy!

“Dude!” Travis yelled, rolling onto his side so that he wouldn’t get impaled by a spear. “This is practice, you’re not actually supposed to kill me” He scrambled to his feet so he was staring right at Clarisse. Not that it did much to assert dominance, Clarisse was still just as intimidating from eye level. 

He lunged for the daughter of Ares, but she dodged and rammed the base of the spear into his back. Travis could feel the taste of dirt in his mouth. 

He was going to attempt to stand up again, at least get a few hits in before Clarisse would knock him out, but thankful for him - he heard Luke blow a whistle, that meant that their match was supposed to come to a stop. 

To his surprise, Clarisse held out a hand for him to stand up instead off Luke. he was leaning against the fence and taking notes from their fight. “Thanks.” He muttered, standing and brushing off his pants. 

“You’re not too bad actually.” Clarisse commented, looking at her spear and not him. “For someone who’s been here barely a month though, you have a long way to go squirt.” She commented before heading off to the rest of her cabin mates, and Travis made his was towards where Luke and Connor were standing. 

Since Connor was still nine, he didn’t have sword training yet, or anything that could harm him. That would start when he turned ten, but just because he didn’t have to train, that didn’t stop him from hovering around Luke almost the entire day. 

He wondered if Luke ever got annoyed at Connor. If he did, he was pretty good at hiding it. 

Luke gave him his advice, Travis had to work on his footwork and well, most other things if he were being honest. 

“We’re having a movie night after the bonfire today.” Luke explained as the Hermes cabin made their way to lunch. “The cabin leaders have planned it, we got permission from Chiron of course.” He added quickly. 

Throughout lunch, all the cabins were talking about where they were going to sit and what snacks they were going to bring to the movie night - apparently this didn’t happen very often. They were all supposed to get blankets and pillows from their cabins to lay on while a movie played on the big screen. It sounded a lot like a picnic. 

Travis sighed and looked around, looking around at the people he wanted to sit with during the movie. There were Katie and Ethan obviously, the three of them had managed to click shortly after Travis came to camp. Maybe he could ask Clarisse? She was terrifying but she was also fun to be around sometimes. 

There was Connor too though. 

He liked hanging out with Connor, he really liked talking to him, but right now, Travis kind of just needed to find some friends, established where exactly he fit in at this camp. He thought about how he was going to break it off to his brother that he wasn’t going to sit with him, or if seeing the look on Connor’s face would change his mind in the end.   
He sighed and put his plate in the sink, today was the Athena kids turn to do the dishes. Travis wondered why they needed to do the dishes when there was probably a god of ‘doing the dishes’ somewhere out there. 

“Travis!” Someone called out before he sit back at his spot at the Hermes table. 

Clarisse. 

He sighed and stood a bit taller before turning to see her. 

“You’re incharge of snacks for the movie today.” She said. “Malcolm, Katie and I will be there, everyone’s incharge of bringing one thing.” She carried on, and Travis didn’t even realise that he didn’t have to ask them, he was being willingly invited to watch the movie. 

“can I get Ethan?” He asked, making Clarisse stop and think for a moment. She probably didn’t remember who Ethan was since he only spoke to a handful of people. After a long moment she shrugged and crossed her arms. 

“Sure if you want to.” She said. “But leave that brother of yours out of it.” 

Travis nodded but he already thinking of how he would break it to Connor that he was going to be sitting with someone else for the movies. It made sense though, Connor was cool and smart for nine year old, but that didn’t stop him from asking weird questions in the middle of movies. 

He remembered that time Connor tried to run away from camp. Although they hadn’t talked about that, ever since that happened, travis made sure to keep an eye on him and do his part to make him feel included. Surely Connor had made friends during these past weeks but that didn’t stop Travis from worrying what his little would think of him not being a part of playing with his friends. 

He thinking so hard about how he would approach Connor, he barely noticed his younger brother sneak up behind him and jump on his back. 

“Travis!” he screamed. 

Travis yelped in surprise and fell face into the grass, Connor was comfortably sitting on his back now. 

“Travis.” He repeated, this time more serious. 

Travis hummed, his face still on the cool earth as he waited for Connor to say something. He took a few pauses, like he was scared of what Travis would say before finally taking a deep breath. 

“Am I allowed to watch the movie with my friends?” 

“Huh?” Travis blinked. He craned his neck so that he could see Connor. “Friends?” 

Connor nodded, finally getting off Travis’s back and sitting in front of him. “Annabeth and Will want me to sit with them, and Will’s trying to get Drew to join us too!” He animatedly explained, and Travis recognised those names from the younger kids in camp, who mostly just hug out with each other when the older kids were trying not to die. 

“I’m in charge of the picnic blankets.” Connor explained. “Will’s getting snacks and Drew is stealing pillows from the big house.” Sometime Travis was going to have to explain to him why he shouldn’t go around talking about other people stealing. “Annabeth’s gonna help us build a fort because she wants to be a builder when she grows up!” He explains. 

Travis nodded along, still surprised that Connor was so eager to sit with his new friends. 

“You won’t be lonely without me, will you?” He asked, and Travis found himself holding back a laugh. Connor was probably thinking about the same thing that he was, and now that Travis looked back, his doubts were silly. 

“Of course.” He grinned. “And I’ll probably be nearby, so if you ever need me, you can call out.” 

Connor grinned and nodded, standing and running to the infirmary. A little girl with blond frizzy hair was standing by the door and waiting for him. He wondered if she was one of the people Connor told him about. 

That night during the movie, Travis glanced at Connor to make sure he was doing okay. He was smiling and sharing a bag of popcorn with who Travis assumed was Will. He looked like he was at home, with his friends and family. 

“Travis.” Katie hissed suddenly hissed, kicking his ankle and breaking his train of thoughts. “I’m cold.” She grumbled. “Give me some of your blanket.” 

Travis nodded and tugged on the blanket he and Ethan were sharing so that Katie and Clarisse could have the other half. Malcolm was sprawled out on the grass, the weather didn’t affect him. If someone had told him a few months earlier that he’s be squished in between people he’d only known for a month he probably wouldn’t believe them. 

But right now, he felt at home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this fic I wrote while I was sick!

Connor grabbed a piece of warm toast from the table and made a run for it. No one usually missed meals at the mess hall, but today was a different kind of day and Connor was sure that even if he had a proper breakfast, he wouldn’t be able to keep it down for long. 

He ran past the cabins, almost bumping into someone from the Aphrodite cabin. Muttering a quick apology, he pushed past them to get to the armoury. He could see three figures standing outside the door, one much larger than the other two. 

“Connor!” Will shouted, waving his hands at him as if they hadn’t just seen each other yesterday by the campfire. Connor returned his enthusiasm though, running to give him a high five with his free hand. 

Annabeth was sitting by the door, the book she had was now closed beside her. “Didn’t you make an offering?” She asked, glancing at his toast - now cold. 

Connor frowned and looked at his breakfast, taking a bite out of it before making a face. Cold toast didn’t taste good, and now that he thought about it, he forgot to burn some of it as a tribute to his dad. 

Oh well. 

Connor shrugged, finishing his breakfast in two quick bites. 

“I don't think he’ll mind.” Connor explained. “Doesn’t Hermes have enough people giving him food anyways - we do have the biggest cabin, right? He won’t notice me not giving him toast.” 

How would the gods notice a missing piece of bread if they had failed to notice their own children until they absolutely had to? 

He didn’t say the last part aloud. 

The door to the armoury opened, and Connor could make out a greasy child of Hephaestus, he wasn’t the head counsellor but Connor could tell that he was one of the important members of the cabin - of the camp. He must be a little older that Travis, maybe just a year. He had dark skin and curly black hair. 

He looked intimidating, but that was probably because he was double Connor’s size. 

“Welcome! I’m Charles.” he beamed, ushering the three of them inside. “Chiron told me it’s time for you guys to decide which weapons you want?” He asked and Annabeth nodded, leading the way to a simple table in the corner. 

He pulled out some blueprints and gave them each a small piece of scrap paper. “I know none of you guys have ever fought - except Annabeth, but you’ve been taught about different kinds of weapons, right?” 

The three of them nodded. 

Charles sighed. “Let’s start off with drawing the weapon you want, then we’ll see where we can go from there.” 

Annabeth didn’t seem too worried, she had the dagger that Luke gave her and knowing her, she’d carry that knife to her grave with her. Connor didn’t know what was so special about it, the dagger didn’t look anything too fancy anyways, and it needed a new grip. 

Connor glanced at Will’s sheet of paper, looking for information. He was drawing a wonky bow and an arrow, even adding some little designs inside of them. Connor frowned and looked back at his own blank sheets. Bows were cool, but Connor was fast and had really good reflexes. According to Chiron, he needed something for close range combat. 

Annabeth’s dagger came into mind. 

No, that’s too small. 

He got up from his spot on the floor and started to look around at all the weapons scattered out on benches, hanging up on the walls. 

There were long swords - one of them looked familiar to the one Travis owned, spears, different kinds of bows and arrows, there were even some claws and throwing stars - Connor remembered Luke and someone from the Aphrodite cabin training with them, but they looked way too intense for Connor. 

Way too scary. 

“Hey Charles?” He asked suddenly. 

All three pairs of eyes in the armoury were on him now. 

Charles raised his eyebrows, urging Connor to say something. 

“Why don’t we have guns?” 

Charles stared. 

Annabeth spit the water she was drinking. 

Will looked at Charles, waiting for an answer. 

There was plenty of silence between them, maybe Charles was thinking of an answer. Maybe Connor would make fighting monsters a whole lot easier, at the simple age of nine.

“It makes sense though, doesn’t it?” He asked, taking one of the more medium sized swords in his hands - it felt too heavy. “Why not just shoot them from far away, like in the video games?” 

Charles blinked before looking at Connor. “I’ll actually ask Chiron about that one.” He explained. “He’s the one who tells us what weapons to manufacture.” 

He hummed in agreement, he didn’t know why Chiron hadn’t thought of this before - hadn’t he been alive when guns were invented? 

Before he could say anything, Will’s voice broke his trail of thoughts. “Are you gonna use a gladiator?” He asked, and suddenly Connor was more aware of the sword he was holding with both his hands. 

It had the celestial bronze gleam over it, and the hilt was silver, with words that Connor couldn’t understand inscribed onto it. He smiled and lifted it up to eye level. 

Still too heavy. 

Charles seemed to have read his mind, smiling as he slid out of his seat and took the gladiator from Connor. “Don’t worry about the fit right now.” He put it back where it was hanging on the wall. “You guys are going to practice with wooden swords first, then by the time you get your actual weapon it’ll be fine.” 

Connor nodded slowly, his eyes still glued to the gladiator on the wall. There was something about it that made Connor want to keep it with him. He imagined himself as the main character of a video game, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, killing anything in his way to get himself some more points. 

He wondered if his gladiator could have power ups, like the ones in video games. 

That would be kinda cool. 

So would having a machine gun. 

Connor wondered whether his mom would blame video games for his ‘violent thoughts’. Maybe she would blame the monsters. 

On the other side of the room, Will was showing his design for a bow to Charles, animatedly waving his hands around, pretending to shoot an arrow. Quickly, he was beside Will, curious about what all he wanted in his own bow and arrow. Knowing will, he’d want it to be light - but to also have some features. 

Annabeth wasn’t going to change her dagger - that was for sure, but she did ask for a new grip since hers was wearing out. Connor looked at the dagger with a soft frown, it was supposed to be a gift from Luke. 

Most of what he remembered from his first day at camp was Luke helping him and Travis make it inside camp boundaries alive, and Luke helping him feel safer and more at home during camp. On some days, Luke even let Connor take his bunk since he was the youngest in the cabin and Luke was the counsellor. 

He liked Annabeth sure, she was smart and sometimes she was fun to talk to, but Connor knew that even though they pretended to like each other, it wasn’t very true. 

The reason was petty, but Connor was nine, and he was always a little possessive over his family members. When Travis’s best friend decided to sleep over at their house two months ago, Connor sat outside his room until he fell asleep and their mother had to take him back to his room. 

And ever since he came into camp half blood, there was always rivalry between him and Annabeth for Luke’s attention. Connor didn’t understand why Annabeth couldn’t find her own elder sibling to tag along with and leave Luke alone. Luke was his older sibling, and he couldn’t teach him any of his cool sword tricks if Annabeth was always asking him to tell her a story about the gods. 

“So, are we done here?” Charles asked. 

Connor blinked, not even realising that they were done here until Charles said so. 

He thanked Charles and quickly followed Will leaving the room, they had an hour of free time before a theory lesson about the story of Atlas with one of the older Athena kids, and Connor was going to spend his hour doing something fun, maybe play volleyball with Will and some of the Aphrodite kids, that was always fun. 

But then he saw Luke. More worrisome, he saw Annabeth running towards him at full speed. 

Catching up to her wasn't a problem, Annabeth might have been taller than him but Connor was definitely faster - a fact that he took great joy in. He could practically feel her glare on his back when he stopped in front of Luke with a wide grin, panting a little. 

“Yes Connor?” Luke looked up from the knots he was tying on a piece of rope, eyebrow raised. Connor realised that he didn’t exactly have anything that he needed from Luke, he just wanted attention - and he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him that. 

Lucky for him, Annabeth actually did come with a plan in hand. “I want you to help me with my knife training, since I can practice with weapons now.” 

Luke looked at his watch before nodding with a sigh. “Sure, I’ve got some time before l need to go, why don’t we spar on the beach?” He asked, Annabeth eagerly nodded. 

Connor realised he wasn’t being invited. 

“Me too!” He yelled. “I wanna learn how to fight with a knife.” He insisted, although Luke was already walking towards the beach, telling them both to come along with him. 

Annabeth groaned and pushed into Connor’s side, Connor replied with a light shove of his own. What was her problem with him anyways?

Luke stopped at a clear spot and made a square on the sand with his own sword before taking a step back. 

“Why don’t the both of you spar, and then I’ll help you where you need it?” He asked, Connor frowned and Annabeth groaned. 

“But he doesn’t even have a dagger!” She argued. 

A pretty valid point. 

Luke smirked, crouching down so that he was eye level with the two before pulling something out from the pocket of his pants. 

A dagger. 

“Now this isn’t my weapon.” He reasoned, handing it to Connor. “But I’m sure Connor can use it if we don’t tell anyone, isn’t that right bud?” He asked. 

Connor nodded, eyes wide as he flipped it over in his hands. He was holding a real life weapon, and right now he was going to be fighting with it. ‘Why don’t both of you try to come at me, I’ll go easy one you two I swear.” He grinned again, taking out his sword. 

Both the kids made sounds of disappointment but stood next to each other anyways, Connor crouching down on his heels so that he could run to Luke quickly, Annabeth was standing with her dagger drawn. 

They both charged at the same time, Connor aiming for Luke’s legs. He drew his dagger back when Annabeth yelled. “Connor get back.” followed by a loud shriek. Not that she would have listened to her anyways, but before he could do anything, there was a knee on his chest, and suddenly was kicked back onto the sand. 

He heaved and opened his eyes, it was all a blur, but he could make out Annabeth across from him, face flat on the sand. 

He could hear Luke loud and clear though. “I didn’t even need to take out my sword.” He sounded disappointed as he helped Connor sit up. “If you’re going to be strong fighters, you two need to stop fighting with each other.” He explained. 

Connor rubbed the back of his head. “How’d you find out?” He asked. 

Luke rolled his eyes, moving to the side to help Annabeth up too. “The whole camp knows about your rivalry, it’s not like you’re doing too much to hide it.” He helped her stand and picked up the discarded dagger from the floor. 

“Before I start to teach you kids anything, I need you to be more civil with each other.” He stood up. 

“There’s no point in fighting me if you can’t stop fighting each other.” 

“I want you two to sort whatever you have going on by next week, and then I’ll think about teaching you.” He said, starting to walk back to camp area, leaving Connor and Annabeth confused on the sand. 

Connor looked Annabeth, she looked annoyed, but he couldn’t tell if she was annoyed at him. 

Connor sighed. “Who does he think he is, my dad?” He hoped Annabeth would laugh, the tension was getting awkward. 

She huffed, a small smile on her face.

“He's your brother.” She muttered, walking back to the camp with Connor following behind. 

This was bound to be a long week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was a bit skeptical about sharing this one because for the past few weeks I've just been feeling terrible about everything I write, but I hope you all have fun reading this !!


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travis leaned back, and sure enough, he could see the upside down daughter of Demeter. Her hair was in two braids and there was a blue plant in her arms but she looked angry. 
> 
> Really angry. 
> 
> “What’s up?” Travis asked. Katie rolled her eyes and moved to stand in front of him. 
> 
> “Don’t act all innocent with me Stoll, I know that you were behind this.” 
> 
> Travis blinked. “Behind what?”

Travis hums, pen in hand as he tries to make a ‘blueprint’ for his latest project. 

A treehouse. 

He wanted to make a treehouse at around the starting of the forest, just far in enough so that it could only be seen of you looked close, but at the same time was close enough to camp incase of a surprise invasion. After a quick talk with Chiron, he got permission to go forwards, he just wasn’t supposed to make a mess. 

So that’s why Travis was spending his Wednesday free time sitting under the trees and trying to make his plans for a treehouse, then he would go find himself some wood, and start hammering away at the tree with some of his friends. 

Sounds simple enough. 

“Travis Stoll!” 

Hearing his name made him jump, dropping the pencil on the ground and looking around. He recognised the voice - it was Katie’s, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. 

“I’m behind you idiot.” 

Oh. 

Travis leaned back, and sure enough, he could see the upside down daughter of Demeter. Her hair was in two braids and there was a blue plant in her arms but she looked angry. 

Really angry. 

“What’s up?” Travis asked. Katie rolled her eyes and moved to stand in front of him. 

“Don’t act all innocent with me Stoll, I know that you were behind this.” 

Travis blinked. “Behind what?” 

She groaned in frustration and held the pot out in front of her. Travis thought she looked kind of cute when she was mad, and sure, there were times when he annoyed her just for attention, but today wasn’t any of those days. 

“Tell me why all the plants are blue.” She demanded. “You do know that we sell our strawberries too, don't you?” She asked. “Who would buy blue strawberries?” 

Travis shrugged, putting his pencils away and standing up. “I would buy blue strawberries.” 

He was not helping his cause. 

Katie rolled here eyes, Travis was too busy staring at the blue leaves to really notice her still yelling at him.   
There was another sound, a rustling in the bushes. That pulled Travis out of his awe, and apparently Katie too. They both stared at the dense strawberry bushes shake, Travis pulled a Swiss knife out of his back pocket. Katie willed the trees around her to move just so slightly. 

The rustling became violent - and loud, Travis sucked in a breath when the leaves parted to show what - or who - decided it was a good idea to walk through insanely thick bushes. 

It was Luke. 

He brushed out the leaves from his hair before standing in front of them, smiling at them as if they weren’t on full defence - weapons out and all. “Katie! Travis!” He exclaimed, and Travis put his knife back in his pocket. 

“I was looking for the both of you actually, there seems to be a little problem that I was hoping you two could take off my hands.” He explained, the both of them nodded. Luke explained how someone - or something - was pulling pranks all around camp. The pranks in itself were pretty harmless, but they were beginning to get inconvenient. 

The Demeter cabin’s plants were blue, someone taped a bunch of fake spiders around the Athena cabin, all the extra bunks from the Hermes cabin were missing - which was a bigger problem than it came out to be considering that the Hermes cabin had more children in it than it could handle, and someone had taken away all the coffee from the Apollo cabin. 

The thought of an Apollo camper who wasn’t caffeinated was enough to make him shiver. 

“I have to get some work done with Chiron, so I was wondering if the both of you were interested in helping us find who’s behind this?” He asked, and it was hard for either of them to say no to Luke, and Travis had to admit that the prospect of finding out who was behind all the pranks was just a little bit exciting. 

“We’ll do it.” He grinned. 

———

Katie groaned. “This is impossible, there are way too many people in camp.” She was sitting on the ground and twisting the grass around her. “Can’t we narrow it down to the Hermes cabin?” 

As a response, Travis flicked at her ankle, making a face. “Why does everyone just assume that the Hermes cabin pranks everyone?” He asked. 

“You know the answer to that.” Katie snorted. 

Travis knew the answer to that. 

“What’s if it’s one of those Athena kids then?” Travis asked, Katie just shrugged, her eyes trained on the strawberry patches - now blue. 

When he got no answer, Travis groaned and stood up. He held a hand out for Katie to take, the first place he would want to check was the Hephaestus cabin, they may not be the Hermes cabin, but Travis knew how sneaky they could be when they wanted to be. 

Katie walked beside him, she was saying something about poisonous plants and how you’d find the cure for them, but Travis’s thoughts were solely on whoever was behind all these pranks. What is it was Luke, and all this was a way for Travis to prove that he was good enough to be in the Hermes cabin? 

Whatever it was, Travis and Katie had to find out who was behind it. 

“Out! Out!” There were screams from the cabin before everyone started flooding out, scrambling to get away. Katie must've spotted someone she recognised, because she was running towards a girl with short brown hair and a pink bandana. 

Travis would’ve followed her, but something else caught his eye. There was a horrible smell and suddenly the entire cabin was up in flames. 

It all happened so fast. 

He probably would’ve ran if he wasn’t too busy gawking at the flames in front of him, they looked too similar to the greek fire that Chiron told him about to be anything else. He felt an arm pull him away and he fell onto the grass. 

There was silence for a few minutes. A cold empty silence that made Travis wonder if someone had gotten injured in the fire. 

Then there was laughter. 

No one seemed to be too phased at the fact that an entire cabin went up in flames, they were laughing and Travis was sure that he could hear some hoots and whoops too. Wasn’t greek fire supposed to be dangerous? 

He blinked a few times before standing up. Now that the laughter was under control, he saw a few older campers trying to put out the fire. Travis stood up, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. The fire was distracting in itself but he saw something - someone, move behind the bushes from the corner of his eyes. 

Someone blonde. 

“Katie!” He turned on his heel and screamed again. “Katie!” 

Katie was standing a little away from the crowd and talking to someone he didn’t recognise. At the sound of her name she glanced at Travis, face contorted in a frown. “hm?” 

“Whoever’s behind this, they’re blonde.” He spoke. “And short. And they have a ponytail.” He was still trying to catch his breath, apparently everyone else around camp was used to things bursting into flames without much of a warning. 

Katie hummed, looking around at everyone who had gathered around the burning cabin. They were all either laughing or trying to douse the flame, no one looked suspicious or even a bit out of place. 

Except one person. 

Annabeth was standing with some of the Athena kids, but she had her hands on her kness, panting and out of breath. She was looking around camp, searching for someone - Travis couldn’t tell who. 

Blonde. Small. Hair in a ponytail. 

Annabeth was the one he who he saw running behind the cabin. 

“Hey Annabeth!” He smiled, walking towards her. Katie was behind him, and from the looks of it, he could tell that she had figured it out as well. “Hey Annabeth wait up.” He grinned at her, Annabeth looked up at Travis and brushed some hair out of her face before standing up straight. Annabeth would probably never be suspected of it. 

“Yeah?” She asked. 

“It’ll be easier if you confess you know?” Katie was straight to the point. 

Annabeth blinked, taking a step back before Travis held her arm to stop her. “Hey, no one’s mad Annabeth.” He was telling her the truth, Luke didn’t seem mad - when they spoke earlier today he seemed more intrigued than angry. In all honesty, they all just wanted to know who was behind all these pranks. 

Annabeth blinked, he could tell that she was trying to weasel herself out of this entire situation. Katie sighed and bent down to her height. “Annabeth.” She sounded stern but not angry, just enough to get a confession out of her. “We’re not mad we ju-“ 

“Hey what are you doing with Annabeth?” 

Connor. 

He turned to his younger brother. “Connor can you leave for a while, we’re talking to Annabeth.” 

Connor frowned at this and stood beside Annabeth. “If you wanna talk to her, you’re going to have to me too.” He announced. 

Katie groaned. “What’s going on?” 

Annabeth was definitely guilty, he had seen her running behind the cabin. But Connor. He didn’t seem all that guilty, except for the fact that him and Annabeth had been talking a lot this past one week. 

And he smelt like greek fire and oil. 

“Connor?” Travis tried, giving him the same look that he gave him when they were kids and he knew Connor took the last cookie from their grandmother’s jar. Standing back, the both of them had taken a great interest in the grass. Katie was sitting on the ground now, looking up at those two. 

Connor rubbed the heel of his shoe on the grass before looking at Annabeth and then Katie. “We know it’s the both of you.” Katie tried to reason. “Now if you’d tell us why you did it, our job will be done here. The most you’ll get is a week of dish duty, if you don’t tell us it might just become one month.” 

Listening to that, Connor was the first one to break. 

“Luke told us we needed to find something that would make us work together.”


End file.
